Quotes from Alastair Cook

When someone says, 'How long do you see yourself captaining for?' you don't really know.

Parenthood changes things a lot.

I think it's very hard to shake what people first think of you straightaway.

You're never as good as people say you are and you're never as bad as people say you are. You're always in the middle at some stage.

It does take a lot of effort to perform, playing for England. It's a huge amount of sacrifice to do and one day I might just wake up and say 'you know what, I'm done with it.'

You have to be very pragmatic, because you walk out to bat at the best time to bowl, with a brand new ball, against the best bowlers, who are fresh. And their job is to get you out, so when you fail there's no point beating yourself up.

Nobody walks over me, ever, and no-one will walk over me, ever.

All I ever wanted to do was play cricket for England and be successful.

I have achieved more than I could have ever imagined and feel very privileged to have played for such a long time alongside some of the greats of the English game.

Just because you're made England captain, it doesn't mean that you suddenly know everything about captaincy.

Physically and mentally, it's quite hard. But I'm playing cricket for England. It's what I dream about doing.

You're only England captain for a very short space of time.

Learning on the job as England captain is hard.

When I watch Twenty20 cricket, there's a different satisfaction. That hundred you get in six hours is a very satisfying feeling. A real triumph of skill. I don't quite see that in the 20-over game - or the 100-ball game.

No matter how much cricket you have played you are always learning.

If I was a second-team player, I probably would have gone to uni.

It's quite nice to switch off and not see anything to do with cricket.

I love cricket but I like being away from it as well.

The captaincy thing is brilliant, and I love it. But I didn't start off playing cricket to captain England. I wanted to score runs and stuff.

I think a lot when I'm on my own - and much of it is about cricket.

I suppose you could say I was always having to defend my style of captaincy. I did get a lot of criticism - some of it justified, other times as part of a tactic.

Sheep are never going to talk to you about cricket.

My girlfriend comes from a farming background and I spend a lot of time at her farm doing farming stuff. When you're pulling lambs out, or weighing them or worming them or doing whatever you do to sheep you're not thinking about Brett Lee.

Relief isn't quite the right word but there's satisfaction at a job well done and I'm proud to say that I'm an Ashes-winning captain. Without taking it too personally, it has a nice little ring to it.